Pages

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Getting Antsy for Christmas

Oh how I love the holidays! Starting with Halloween, the excitement builds and the planning and decorating begin.

Mantle decorations without the black (looks like I forgot the cat)

First comes Halloween. I learned a while ago to decorate for Thanksgiving BEFORE Halloween! Then all you have to do for Halloween is add a bunch of black and it's instant Halloween! Right after Halloween is done, you remove the black and it's already decorated for Thanksgiving. That way I get to enjoy those two holidays with a minimal of decorating effort (and it saves on storage too!).

While I love the Halloween/Fall decorations, I must admit that my absolute favorite is decorating for Christmas!!! The weekend after Thanksgiving (OK usually the DAY after), I pull down all the Thanksgiving decorations and bring out the piles of Christmas decorations.

From that point, it feels like I live in Christmas-land! I just love all of the festive colors. The pretty, sparkly items, the blinking lights, and wonderful music! I really think I was meant to live at the North Pole!

Right now I am starting to begin my holiday planning. A few years ago, I made a list of all of the holiday traditions and events that I could think of - so that at the beginning of each holiday season, we can go through the list and pick out the "must do's" for this year. It's a fun way to begin our planning and it starts to build a feeling of anticipation.

Here's a sample of some of the traditions on our Holiday To-Do list:

Decorate the inside and outside of the house

Baking holiday goodies

Seeing the Nutcracker Ballet

Driving around to see all the neighborhood holiday decorations

Making Christmas cards

Going to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens to see their holiday light displays

Family and friends gingerbread house decorating contest

Going to holiday bazaars

Reading holiday-based books

We pick another winter holiday to celebrate/honor - for instance: Ramadan, Solstice, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or Yule (we are Christian, but think celebrating other winter holidays are a wonderful way to learn about and honor another culture).

Watch holiday-themed TV shows and movies

High Tea (something the adult-aged ladies in my family have done every year for 12+ years and usually requires the ladies to wear fancy/fun hats)

Kid's Tea (we started a few years ago because the kids wanted to join in the High Tea fun... it's like High Tea, but a LOT less formal)

Annual holiday family picture

Snowshoeing (or playing in the snow) in the mountains

These are just a few of our favorite holiday traditions. Feel free to borrow some or all!!